In one conventional construction of desktop computer systems and, specifically, of desktop personal computers ("PCs"), the PC includes an outer housing having a bottom wall on top of which the computer motherboard or system planar is horizontally mounted. To install expansion and riser cards within the housing, it has previously been necessary to individually position each card over and separately connect each card to the motherboard using appropriate cable connectors (or other individual connection apparatus) with the expansion cards in a horizontally stacked array. In such systems, the riser card is perpendicular to the motherboard and a grounding connection for the expansion riser card is also installed. In another conventional desktop computer construction, the expansion cards are individually connected in vertical orientations to the motherboard without a separate riser card.
These installation techniques tend to be laborious and time-consuming, thereby undesirably increasing the overall fabrication cost associated with the computer. They also tend to adversely affect the serviceability and upgradeability of the computer since subsequent access to the motherboard requires that the expansion cards (and the riser card, if used) be individually disconnected and removed to gain access to the motherboard portion which they overlie. This disconnection of the expansion cards typically entails the laborious task of unscrewing each of the expansion cards from a housing structure, and disconnecting a variety of cables routed from the cards through the computer chassis to various connection points therein.
When servicing or upgrading of the motherboard is completed, the removed expansion cards must, of course, be individually reconnected to the motherboard. Typically, other internal computer components, such as cooling fans, are also individually connected to the motherboard and must be separately disconnected, to provide access to the motherboard portion which they overlie, and then be reinstalled when the servicing or upgrading of the motherboard is completed.
It can readily be seen from the foregoing that it would be highly advantageous, from serviceability, upgradeability, and manufacturability standpoints, to provide improved apparatus, and associated methods, for removably mounting operating components such as expansion cards (and, if incorporated in the computer, an associated riser card) on a computer motherboard.
Typical computer chassis designs allow the installation and removal of expansion cards in the same direction as the supporting card guides are oriented. One type of chassis design which allows this is where the expansion cards are plugged directly into the motherboard (or "planar") rather than a daughtercard extending perpendicularly from the planar ("riser card"). In this type of design, a card guide that is either a separate part or integral to the chassis can be oriented to allow unimpeded insertion of a full length expansion card. In another common chassis design, expansion cards plug into a riser card, which is fixed within the system, and are parallel to the planar once installed. There is an opening on one side of the chassis (once the cover is removed) that allows the expansion cards to be installed and removed. Since the riser card is fixed within the chassis, and is typically not removed in this type of design, the card guide can once again he oriented to allow unimpeded insertion of a full length card. The drawback to this design is that typically all the expansion cards must be removed individually before the user can remove the planar or access the area of the planar beneath the expansion cards.
Some manufacturers have worked to improve the serviceability of and the accessibility to the planar by implementing a card cage chassis design. In such designs, the riser card is mounted within a removable card cage. Expansion cards may then be installed when the card cage is either installed or removed from the system. The card guides are actually part of the card cage and therefore "travel" with the riser card and expansion cards. Once again there is no impediment when removing (with cards installed) from the system.
While the card cage approach to chassis design has worked well, it is not optimal in terms of cost. By associating the card guides with the card cage, this immediately constrains the use of the apparatus to a mechanical structure that is at least as long as a full length expansion card (about 13"). In the past, most of this length in the card cage was needed to support the mounting of cache cards and Video Equipment Standards Association local bus ("VL-Bus") riser cards. With on-board cache and Peripheral Component Interconnect ("PCI") risers becoming prevalent, the extra length of the card cage is no longer necessary for any other reason than to support full length expansion cards. Thus, the need arises to support full length expansion cards when the card guides are not associated with the card cage and do not "travel" with the riser card or expansion cards. For example, if the card guide is tied to the system, the card cage assembly can no longer be lifted out of the system because the card guides prevent motion of the expansion cards in that direction.
The accessibility problem is further complicated if the riser card is located toward the outside of the system and the expansion cards "point in" toward the center of the system. This totally eliminates the chassis design approach where the riser remains fixed within the system and the cards are removed from the side of the system.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a card guide capable of supporting full length expansion cards in a computer system in which the expansion cards must be installed or removed in a direction that is lateral to the orientation of the card guides.